“If that happens, then I’ll be the first one to defend Mario Williams. What people should understand is that if we take Mario Williams and if somebody doesn’t like it, then I’m right here and I’m the guy to yell at. Nobody else. Boo me. Don’t boo Mario Williams.”

Not surprisingly, the word of a soon-to-be-exiting, lame duck GM who reportedly wanted to sign Reggie Bush right after the Rose Bowl didn’t really sit well with fans. They announced the pick right before the draft with little heads-up. The media crushed it because it wasn’t what they were thinking. Casserly made a few vague references to Williams being a better prospect than Julius Peppers and then prepared to get fired resign with dignity. And the Texans website didn’t provide much information about the draft picks at all.

Since that time, the Texans supplement media sources talking about the picks by actually explaining their thinking on their website (and with more media interviews). Doesn’t mean that they are right, but at least we know a little more what they were thinking instead of just speculating about it. (Ironically, Casserly in 2007 chided the Dolphins for not preparing their fans for the pick of Ted Ginn Jr. enough. Guess he knows that by pretty much writing the case study of how to botch up the PR aspects of the draft. That link also explains why Casserly devalued the bottom of the draft).

Thoughts from the Director of Scouting.

This is from the beginning of the month but we didn’t really talk about it much here. Nick Scurfield from HoustonTexans.com did an interview with Dale Strahm, director of scouting for the Texans reviewing all the picks in the draft. If you haven’t already read it, I suggest doing so.

Very typical talk post-draft. This quote in particular stood out to me:

We have a saying around here, which we really love about all these players; it’s that, ‘If you’re green, you’re grown, and if you’re ripe, you’re rotten.’ So we don’t want any ripe football players. We want green players so that they can get better every day.”

I can’t say I am a big fan of overly parsing words but I wonder about this some. Is this saying that they want developmental players? Guys like DeMeco Ryans and Brian Cushing were able to play right away because 1. There weren’t other options; 2. They had plenty of experience at the position that they were going to be playing in.

One complaint about the University of Texas recruiting is that the guys they get to commit early happen to be early maturers who have already peaked in their talent and don’t have much additional upside. An interesting point of view I’ve heard a lot but don’t really have an opinion about. But it seems to me that having guys that are ripe, and truly NFL-ready for the league isn’t a bad thing. Of course, Strahm also mentions that production was a premium in what Wade Phillips was wanting in a player, so I’m guessing they aren’t just thinking a project to the NFL measurables, coach em up thing.

Your thoughts on the Texans thinking? So who do you think the stand outs of this draft class will be? If it is based on feedback from college fanbases, then JJ Watt is the early leader in the clubhouse. After the 2006 draft, I heard from a bunch of Alabama fans who couldn’t say enough great things about DeMeco Ryans. Wisconsin fans have been like that about JJ Watt.